


You Make Me Feel Like I've Been Waiting My Whole Life

by happydayslouis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Harry is Posh, Louis is Becks, M/M, Model!Harry, Mutual Pining, Pining, footie!louis, harry loves kids a fucking lot, in case it wasn't obvious, in their own way, louis just wants to be with somebody, musician!harry, they're both famous, this is all fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:46:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2465423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happydayslouis/pseuds/happydayslouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis just came out as the world's first openly-gay footballer after scoring England the winning goal in his first World Cup game.</p><p>Harry has his face plastered in every possible magazine across the globe, being a pop star and a model and all that.</p><p>They see each other at a charity gala and everyone is surprised that they know each other, little did everyone know that they actually had classes in secondary school together and were endlessly pining over each other before their respective careers took off.</p><div class="center">
  <p>« + »</p>
  <p>A sort of loosely based Posh and Beck’s AU.</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. That Simple Truth That Always Means The Most To You

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song **Say It, Just Say It** by _The Mowgli's_ because I saw them live last night and it was the best thing ever.
> 
> Just so no one is confused, David Beckham is Louis' footie coach and Victoria Beckham is Harry's mentor in modeling. Harry won the X-Factor (in 2010) when he was 16 then turned to modeling and Louis went off to uni for football when he was 18 (also 2010). Harry is literally Posh 2.0 and Louis is a god send to football. Louis plays for Manchester United and was picked to play as a part of England's World Cup team.
> 
> I really don't know shit about football or modeling or the British education system and I'm kinda too lazy to look everything up so there's most likely going to be inaccuracies, correct me if you please.

**« H »**

Harry was sitting down comfortably on the couch just browsing on his phone waiting for Harper to be done with her business in the bathroom when a reminder to tune in for the final World Cup game popped up. He changed the channel to where the game was playing and stood up to find the three year old.

"Harper," Harry says as he knocked on the bathroom door. "The game is about to start and they're interviewing your dad soon. Are you almost done, love?" He waits for a few beats, and when he gets no reply he opens the door to find it empty except for Harper's iPad which was sat on the counter.

He set off on the first floor of the large mansion trying to find the little girl. He looked in the kid’s playroom, the entertainment room, back to the living room, and even the supply room. He was growing increasingly worried with every room he passes by with no signs of life. Then he heard a loud giggle coming from the kitchen and he sighs with relief. He quickly walked to where Harper was and saw that she was on her step stool watching the microwave intently. He realized that she was giggling about the popcorn bag inflating. He sneaked up behind Harper and started tickling her. She squealed with delight as Harry picked her up and placed her over his shoulder.

"Uncle Harry! Please, I give! I give!" Harry smiled, his dimples out on full force. He can't wait for the day he has his own kids. He's already got the names planned out and everything, as long as his future husband doesn't mind. He knows Victoria can see right through him when he says he just "wants to help so you can spend time with David" if they're going on dates or just random events.

He places Harper down and she latches on to hug him, he melts into it. He looks at her and sees that she has a tiny frown on her face, she sniffles quietly. "I miss mum and dad. I wish I was at the game with them, it's not fair."

Harry's sighs and gets down on her level, "C'mon, H. Look at me, darling." She reluctantly does, with a little pout on her face. "I know you want to be there with your brothers, but if you did go your mum will make you stay in bed for the weekend and you'll miss Cruz's 10th birthday party. You wouldn't want that now, would you? She just wants you to get better quickly and if you went your cold would just get worse." She takes a couple of seconds to hum and think about it, and she seems appeased enough if the little twinkle in her eyes were anything to go by.

Harper leans towards Harry and whispers, "Race ya!" Harry falls on his bum, the ever so graceful lad that he is, and his eyes widen in surprise, then he just released a loud laugh running after the little girl.  He pretended that he couldn't catch up to her with his mile long model legs that equals one of his steps to five of Harper's. When he saw her on the couch, she was already bouncing with excitement with seeing her dad talk on the screen. When she notices him, she sniffs the air with an innocent little smile and says, "Uncle H, you forgot the popcorn, silly!"

Harry huffs and pretends to look annoyed, but fails with his dimples in plain view and a soft smile on his face. "You did that on purpose, you little bugger!" He walked back to the kitchen to retrieve the popcorn and threw in some ice cream, candy, and juice pouches too because why the heck not. England hasn't been in the World Cup finals since about half a century ago and Harper is excited that her dad is one of the reasons for that, might as well go all out while they're at it.

Harry takes a quick picture of him and Harper sitting on the couch with all the food on their laps and big smiles on their faces, the screen on the background where you can see David's face. He captions it "Good luck, England!" and tags Harper's parents. Victoria quickly favorited and retweeted it, replying with "That's too much sweets for someone who's sick! And you're only interested because of one fit footballer. ;)" Harry blushes furiously and places his phone down, focusing on the game that was about to start.

**« L »**

There were two minutes of the game left and England and Germany were tied 9-9. It's been a long game of blocks and interceptions, and Louis was on the field about to run after the ball when he heard the whistle blow. He turned around and saw that it was Coach Beckham who called for the time out, so he quickly jogged to the sidelines.

Liam was right next to him, panting quietly. Coach Beckham was right across them and he looks straight at the two of them. "Tommo, Payno. You two are my strongest players. You two always find a way to win the game the very last second, which is how we've gotten this far in the game this year. From the position we're in, Liam, you can easily take the ball from Germany and fake a pass to Louis. There are two minutes left and I know you two have this, let's go!" With that, he walks back to the bench.

Louis and Liam look at each other, and then at all of their teammates who were all staring at them tiredly with slight defeat in their eyes. Liam, the ever so caring lad that he is, assures the rest of their teammates on the field with them that they wouldn't have been here without everyone in the team, and that they're going to win this all together. Louis just agrees with him, he's always been shit with words. That's why Liam always does the pep talks, Louis is better with telling people what to do.

They all go back to their previous positions in the field. Liam catches Louis' eyes, and they both smirk.

Louis and Liam had this weird thing where they just always knew what the other was thinking when it came to the game. That's why they were recruited straight from Oxford University to the England team together. There were scouts for the team in one of their school matches and they saw how well Louis and Liam worked together. Another game later, David Beckham himself checked them out and approached them at the end of the game, offering them places in the Manchester United footie team and the 2014 England World Cup team. Of course, they both accepted, considering they've already become best mates by then.

The whistle blew again, alerting Louis that the game is continuing.

Louis watched as Liam intercepted the pass Germany attempted, and Liam was heading for him. He pretended to stay open for Liam, and half of Germany's defense team was on him, ready to get the ball back. When Liam kicked the ball back to England's defensive side successfully passing it to another member of their team as Louis gets tackled and the whistle blows again.

Louis looks off to Liam's direction and winks. Their plan worked. There was one minute left in the game and Louis got a direct free kick into Germany's goal for the foul committed to him. He's fairly confident that they'll win this.

He stands in front of Germany's goal post. He looks at Germany's goalie, who has a worried but determined look on his face. On the other hand, Louis knows he can get the ball in the goal. He's played football his entire life, so he knows how to get the ball exactly where he wants it to go to. Also, it helped that he researched how Germany's goalie plays and he knows his strengths and weaknesses.

Louis takes a deep breath. He stares at the right side of the goal for a couple of seconds, then to the goalie. He's got an "easy to read" reputation that he likes to prove wrong as much as he can. He starts running towards the ball, making it look like he was aiming for the left side, but he actually kicked it to the right side of the goal post.

The ball goes into the net. The crowd going  **wild**  is an understatement. The whole stadium is standing up and the field is vibrating under Louis' feet and he can't hear anything besides the sound of his own breathing. He can't focus on anything besides the score board that flashes 10-9.

There's still one minute in the game and Germany looks like they haven't given up yet. The ball was placed on the center mark of the field and the referee signals the continuation of the game. Louis heads straight to the ball and passes it to Liam. They both run towards the defensive side of Germany and right when there was fifteen seconds left, Liam tried to kick the ball into the net, but he was blocked so he passed it to Louis in instead. There was five seconds left when Louis caught the ball and kicks it straight to the net, not even looking where it's headed. He falls flat on his back with the force of his kick and all he hears are screams. He doesn't even know if the ball made it in or not.

Next thing Louis knows, he's being picked up and hugged by Liam, yelling in his ear, "You did it, mate! You fucking did it!" Liam puts him down and grabs his face, placing their foreheads together, "We fucking did it, mate! We won! Jesus christ, we really fucking won!" And by this time, all of their teammates ran to them and both Louis and Liam had tears streaming down their faces because of how happy they were.

He can't believe the ball actually went in. He looks at the score board again the score flashes a very bright 12-9 that was now showing the England flag as a backdrop.

Louis just hugs everyone near him and he just can't seem to stop crying. He just scored the winning goal for the World Cup 2014, he thinks he can cry all he wants and no one is going to judge him for it. Even Coach Beckham was crying.

**« H »**

By the time Victoria, David, and the rest of the kids got home, Harper was already asleep. It was only 8 o'clock but it was an exhausting day for both Harry and Harper. They were overly-excited for the game, cheering for every time England had the ball. They also finished the tub of ice cream and all of the candy, which led to them running around the living room with their sugar rush not even knowing what's fully happening in the game.

When Louis got tackled by the player from Germany, Harry felt like he stopped breathing. He stopped running and Harper bumped into him looking at the screen where Louis was laying down on his back.

The cameras zoomed in on Louis' face and Harry actually stopped breathing for an entirely different reason. Louis is just so damn handsome, with his sparking blue eyes and the scruff that makes him look so manly and the crinkles by his eyes that makes him look soft at the same time and the cut of his cheekbones that fills half of Harry's not so innocent dreams since his teenage years to his pretty thin lips that Harry just wants to kiss all the time.

Harry knows he's in trouble, he's known that he was in trouble since he first laid his eyes on Louis in their shared classes in secondary school. He hasn't spoken to Louis in four years, maybe Louis doesn't even remember him. That's why he hasn't asked Victoria to let them meet each other, even though she could have so easily set it up. Victoria doesn't even know that Harry knew Louis personally, he doesn't know why he hasn't told her in the two years she's been his mentor, Harry just didn't think it was important. Mostly, he was just scared that Louis doesn't remember him.

However, Victoria  **is**  well aware of Harry's crush on the footballer.

So when she offers him a cup of tea and to stay for the night, he does, because a room in a mansion where there's loud voices to wake up to in the morning is better than waking up to nothing at all. They chat idly about how intense and good the game was and he knew what she would bring up next.

"What did you think of Louis in that last goal?" Victoria asked smugly.

_Amazing. Phenomenal. Fucking fantastic. His face looked so fierce, so did his ass when it was jiggling as he ran and it clenched when he kicked the ball. I just wanted to wrap my mouth on his dick and watch him make that face when he paints me all over with streaks of white._

Harry coughed awkwardly, "It was good, yeah." He offered in the most nonchalant voice that he could muster.

Victoria just smirked at him, she knows him well enough to know how absolutely infatuated Harry is with Louis. "Whatever you say, H. I'm going to bed, you know where everything is. This is basically your second home anyways."

She patted his cheek and padded off to her bedroom where her husband was waiting for her.

Harry just sighed and went off to the guest room that's almost his bedroom. He always stays over when he offers to babysit the kids.

As he laid down in bed, he let his mind wander to five years ago when he first saw Louis walking around his school. He thought of how much Louis has changed physically. His muscular and toned ass and his thinner face that showed off a dimple in the most random times. If Harry thought about fucking Louis' thighs as his hand tugged on his hard member, well, no one else has to know. Especially when he moaned Louis name as he spurted on his stomach. After cleaning his come off himself, he drifted off to a fitful sleep filled with _what ifs_.

**« L »**

It's been a long and tiring day.

After the match, the England team was presented with the trophy and there was an hour long interview regarding everything that happened in the game.

Louis can't even remember anything after falling flat on his back, his mind is just a whirlwind. Even though he was still filled with the adrenaline rush during the interview, he crashed from exhaustion on the ride to his and Liam's flat. It was a good thing he wasn't driving.

He opened his front door and sighed. The flat just seems so empty, Louis can't even get himself to call it his home considering he's just been in and out to sleep then go to training for the past four years. Even though he shared the flat with Liam, ever since he started dating Sophia he was barely around anymore. He has a feeling that they'll be moving in together soon.

Louis thought this win would feel a lot better if he had someone to celebrate with him, and by that he meant a warm body who would massage him and make love to him and cuddle him afterwards. He's just very needy and very lonely at the moment.

Earlier, he saw Victoria and David's kids waiting for their dad to finish with the interview. As soon as he got off the stage, his family tackled him and he can see that they were also on FaceTime with their youngest kid. Louis smiled and waved at them when they saw him, he was going to approach them but they all looked too content just being in each other's presence to be disturbed, he decided to keep on walking to the locker rooms to gather his things as he felt a tug on his heart. He wants that, Louis thinks sadly.

He's never had anything serious with anyone because he's been so focused on his career, thinking about how all his focus on during secondary school was how he had to make it into a good university through football and to make sure that he can help his mum out with the girls.

For the past four years since Louis went to uni and got recruited, he never once uttered a word about his sexuality to the public. Not even his high school friends, except for Gemma, knew. Sure, his teammates, coach, and team publicist knows, but the decision to come out has always been on Louis' hands.

No one pressured him, knowing how much coming out would be a factor in determining the reaction of the public to whatever team Louis was a part of. His entire team supported him, knowing that Louis' sexuality doesn't change anything about him or his amazing quality as an athlete.

As soon as he gets comfortable on his bed, his phone starts ringing and he sees that it's his mum. Even though he just saw her less than an hour before the interview, he still smiles and swipes the screen to answer the call.

Four years of living without his family and he misses nothing more than being able to come home and talk to his mum face to face because she always knows what to do or say to make him feel better.

"Hey, mum." Louis says tiredly.

"Hi, sweetheart. You sound a bit too down for someone who just kicked the last two goals that won England their second World Cup ever," Jay teased trying to make her son feel better.

She knows what's bothering him, she worries about Louis' relationship situation all the time and how she sees it affects him for her not to. She was hoping the game would take his mind off of it, but it seems as if something changed his mood from the time she saw him before the interview to now.

Louis just chuckles quietly. After a few moments of trying to gather his thoughts, Louis explains, "I just want to find someone already, mum. I just want to come out already and find that person who's actually interested in me and not my name. I feel like I'm just getting old with every day that passes by. I'm 23 years old and have never been in a proper relationship with anyone, and I saw the Beckham's earlier with their big happy family and I just want that so much, mum."

So that's where it all went wrong, Jay thought.

Louis is almost close to tears by this point, wishing Liam was there to hold him and tell him that good things come to those who wait.

He can feel his heart clenching and his throat closing up and his heart rate increase. His body feels warm and his hands are starting to shake from trying to hold all the emotions in.

"Oh, sweetheart. Breathe for me, Lou." Louis tries. "C'mon, love. Inhale." Louis closes his eyes and takes a breath. "That's right, darling. Exhale." Louis releases his breath, and so does a tear.

Jesus, he can't even get ahold of himself after winning the fucking World Cup. He should be focused on that, not on his non-existent love life that just seems to try and suffocate him with his loneliness all the time.

"Mum. I'm just gonna go to sleep, okay? I love you." He hangs up and starts on letting it all out. He's lying on his bed curled up on himself, he just wants the pain to go away. He falls asleep and dreams of nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi and talk about Louis and Larry with me [here](http://78rogue.tumblr.com) if you'd like. :)


	2. Your Eyes, They Sold You Out Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis and Harry reunite at the charity gala.
> 
> Louis teases Harry a lot and they fall into each other like old times, it just kinda happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize for being a complete ass and neglecting this fic. Sorry if you forgot what this was about completely. :x

**« H »**

One week after the final World Cup game, Harry was approached by his current manager and old photographer, Zayn Malik, about hosting a charity gala with several other well-known celebrities in England. The ball was supposed to raise awareness for about one hundred different charity organizations that range from supporting the LGBTQ+ community to educating people about specific type of illnesses like cystic fibrosis to music organizations that promote positivity and equality to teenagers to political campaigns. It wasn’t supposed to be too much. There would be event planners to set everything up, all Harry has to do is make sure is that everyone is having a good time and to talk about the organizations he was assigned to. It’s also not like he’s doing it alone, he’ll have one of the four other hosts paired up with him throughout the event.

Of course, Harry immediately accepted. He’s notorious for supporting almost every possible type of charity and non-profit organization he comes across with. He’s just hoping that he gets assigned with at least one of the LGBTQ+ organizations considering he does a lot of sponsorships regarding the community since the first time the spotlight was on him.

Another week later, Harry finds out he got paired with Ed Sheeran, something he’s really ecstatic about considering he’s one of his best mates. He hasn’t seen Ed for a couple of months now though since he’s been on tour.

**« L »**

It was finally the day of the charity gala, which was a 12 hour event. Louis always goes to as much charity events as he could; he’s always participating in charity matches and supporting any cause that he can. When David came up to Louis asking him to help host the gala to represent the football community, he agreed in a heartbeat.

He was told he’d be paired with Niall Horan, the great-grandson of the man who started the Mullingar Rugby Football Club, and currently one of the world’s most famous musicians. Louis’ just glad that he was paired with someone he already knew, he remembers having late night pints with Niall when he’d visit during their practices for Manchester United and the World Cup, running alongside with them sometimes.

Louis has been sitting down in the dressing room playing FIFA on his phone for about half an hour when he finally heard the familiar and loud booming laugh of Niall. The Irish lad came bounding in the room before Louis even finished his game, the blonde pulling him into his arms and telling him he missed him and congratulating him on the World Cup win.

“Mate! David told me it’s your debut tonight!?” Niall asked excitedly. He’s one of the few people outside the team and Louis’ immediate family who knew about Louis’ sexuality.

“Yeah,” Louis replied as he wrung his wrists, “Bit nervous if I’m being honest.”

“Ye got nothin’ to worry about, trust me! You kicked the last two goals that won England the World Cup mate, nothing beats that,” Niall explained with a smiled.

“I guess you’re right, I just don’t want people overlooking my achievements because of something that I can’t control,” Louis mused.

By the time the gala started, Louis was much calmer with Niall’s supportive words and gestures. David dropped by with his family to see how Louis was doing, Harper and Cruz immediately running to Louis and giving him hugs as Brooklyn and Romeo wished him good luck.

Louis was skeptical using a charity gala as an introduction to his coming out, but he wasn’t the one that came up with the idea in the first place so he stores his worries away in the back of his mind. The Beckham’s were the main sponsors of the gala, which means they’re the ones who decide which organizations will be in the gala, who’s invited, and who the main faces of the event will be.

Louis was close to David, looking up to his coach as his role model and something similar to a father figure. David has been there since the first week of training when Louis was staying at the field to practice for two hours more than everyone else, trying to figure out if Louis stayed longer because he wanted to prove his place in the team or because he’s running away from something. Soon enough, David started playing scrimmages with him and Liam and it’s all history from there.

One week after winning the World Cup, David came up to Louis and asked him to be one of the hosts and that he’ll be paired with several of the LGBTQ+ charity organizations. It was just a public introduction to show his support for the community, and then the publicist for Louis’ will release a simple statement regarding his sexuality. It’s not like it was anything new though, with all of the charities Louis has supported, more than a fair handful of them involved LGBTQ+ organizations; the only difference now is that his work will actually be publicized this time.

All of the host’s main purpose were to spread awareness and educate anyone that came by the tables and to try and get some donations or affiliates. Louis and Niall made their way to where they were supposed to be, they were supposed to stay at their assigned organizations for twenty minutes each and all of the paired hosts were assigned twenty organizations to visit.

Three and a half hours and ten organizations later, Louis and Niall were exhausted. They had around nine more hours in the event and they decided to take a break. Both men headed to the room with all of the food for all of the people hosting and setting up the event. As they walked in, Louis eyes immediately honed in on a tall and lanky figure with his hair in a bun.

Louis didn’t know he was staring until Niall elbowed him in the ribs, leaning in to whisper, “You’re being totally obvious, mate.”

Louis rolls his eyes and pulls Niall to the other side of the room where the buffet is, knowing that the best way to get Niall to forget about things is by talking about food.

**« H »**

Harry was sitting down and talking to Ed when he decided he needed to get something to drink. As he stood up and pushed his chair back, he accidentally hit someone with the chair, hearing a high pitched yelp. The person would have fallen to the floor if Harry didn’t catch them by the waist.

Not knowing who he hit, Harry started profusely apologizing. “Oops, oh my gosh. I’m so so-...”

Harry froze because in his arms is none other than Louis Tomlinson.

Louis Tomlinson who he hasn’t seen and spoken to in four years, who probably doesn’t even remember or recognize him. Louis Tomlinson, whose facial features are so much more beautiful this close, whose blue eyes are as deep as the pacific ocean, whose cheekbones look like they can cut through your soul any second, whose thin and pretty pink lips are moving and forming words. Louis Tomlinson, who’s raising his eyebrows as he waves a hand in front of Harry’s face.

“Hi? Hello, anyone there?” Louis asked teasingly.

Harry blushed and almost dropped Louis, Niall coming to the rescue and catching the smaller boy from falling a second time.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Harry Styles,” Louis smirked, not seeming bothered at all that he almost just fell – twice.

Harry’s breath hitched, loving the way Louis says his name and _get it together, Styles_.

Realizing the smaller lad was waiting for a reply, Harry willed his brain to mouth function to start working properly.

He cleared his throat, “Louis, um, hi. I’m so sorry for hitting you with my chair, and almost making you fall twice,” thankful that his voice comes out normal.

Louis just threw his head back and laughed. “You’ve always been the clumsy one. I was wondering when I’ll finally come across that curly mop head of yours again.”

Seemingly out of nowhere, Victoria chimed in, asking “Again?”

“Hey, V,” Louis greeted. “Yes, again. Curly didn’t tell you that we used to have the same classes in secondary school now, did he? He was just a measly cherubic little angel who sat in front of the classroom with his sweater vests and bowties. Oh, how he’s grown.”

Dramatic, Louis was being dramatic and _nothing has changed_. He still likes to tease and he still likes to wink at Harry as much as possible. He still acts like the same Louis Tomlinson that Harry has known and pined for all those years ago. Mostly, **he still remembers Harry**.

From behind Louis, Harry can see Victoria give him a look that said ‘we’ll talk about this later’ and he couldn’t help but blush and bite his bottom lip, knowing that he’s going to get a talking from her.

Victoria was pulled away by Brooklyn who wanted to introduce her to a new friend he made. Harry looked around for Ed and saw him sitting on the table next to Niall and jovially laughing and catching up.

“So, Harold. How are your Stylists?” Louis asked with a glint in his eye.

“My stylists?” Harry asked confusedly, what stylists is Louis talking about? Harry thought as he looked around, as if he’d spot Caroline his stylist somewhere in the near vicinity.

“Your fans, I mean. That’s what you call them, innit? I’m pretty sure that’s what Daisy and Phoebe referred to themselves as,” Louis explained.

“Oh! You mean my fan base, I thought you were talking about my hair and clothes,” Harry clarified as he covered his cheeks, can he stop blushing? He feels like his face is going to burst into flames any second now.

Louis tucked a stray piece of hair behind Harry’s ears, not looking like he’s bothered at all by such an intimate gesture, “Well, your curls sure have been tamed. You know what you should do? Those pretty little bun braids, you just have to braid random strands then put your hair in a braid. I do it for the twins all the time.”

“Who don’t you do it for me then?” Harry asked as he tried to mask his glee from Louis touching him.

Louis threw his head back, his tinkling laugh something that Harry missed so, so dearly. “Now _there’s_ the Harry Styles that I remember, cheeky bugger. Do you really want me to? I reckon there should be a loo around here somewhere.”

Harry looked around and pointed to a hallway behind Louis, turning around to Ed and telling him he’ll be back as Niall winked at the pair.

As they were walking to the bathrooms, Louis said, “Just try not to get your pee on me again this time, Haz.”

Harry tripped on thin air and almost fell on Louis. The nickname and memory slipped out of Louis’ mouth so naturally and it’s like they’re back to being good mates like the old times.

Conveniently, there was a chair placed in front of a mirror as if it was someone’s own personal vanity. Louis immediately started working on Harry’s hair, using his fingers as a comb.

When Louis accidentally tugged on a knotted strand, Harry had to close his eyes and bite his lip to avoid letting his whimpers out. Louis noticed it apparently, considering he started tugging on Harry’s hair purposely when he put it in a ponytail and started braiding the strands.

“Louis,” Harry said, and shit, his voice has gone two octaves lower. “Please stop tugging on my hair.”

“Oh, stop doing this you mean?” Louis said menacingly as he tugged harshly on one braid.

Instead of Harry releasing a yelp, he moaned.

 _Oh, fuck_.

Harry thought Louis would keep teasing him, but he just kept on braiding and finishing the bun as fast as he could.

Harry dared to peek one eye open and saw Louis as red as a tomato, and _okay_. That’s good to know Harry isn’t the only one affected by this.

After a couple more minutes, Louis took a step back and admired his work.

“Ta, darling! You’re all good and flower child like now.”

Harry thanked him with a kiss on his cheek and they both walked back to the table. Harry saw Harper sitting next to Ed and drinking a milkshake.

“Uncle H!” Harper greeted as soon as she saw Harry, she stood up and pulled Harry to sit on the chair she was just occupying and proceeded to plop on his lap and pat his bun. “Pretty bun. I like your bun, Unc. Do it for me, please! Please!”

Harper was pouting and had her hands together in a pleading gesture, and Harry didn’t know what to do considering he wasn’t the one that did it. “Uh, you can ask Louis over there and see if he can do it for you? He was the one that did mine.”

Harper moved on to Louis’ lap, pouting and pleading, “Pleaaase, Uncle Tommo! Pretty, pretty, please do my hair in a pretty bun like Uncle Harry’s?”

Harry bit his lip to stop himself from squealing, nothing makes him happier than hearing Harper call him her uncle and Harper referring to Louis as her uncle too is sending Harry’s thoughts into places it shouldn’t go to. A place where he and Louis babysit Harper together with their own set of kids as they all play football in the backyard.

Louis pretended like he was putting up a fight, but Harry has seen Louis enough times with his own sisters to know that he’s only teasing. Finally turning Harper around in his lap, Louis started to expertly style her hair into the same one as Harry’s as she kept on babbling about how they should take a picture when it’s done.

Harry and Harper asked Louis to take the picture, posing together and taking tons of pictures around the room as Louis just took them and watched on fondly.

Harper asked for a picture of all of them together and the trio had a photoshoot. Harry told Harper to pick one of the pictures to post on his Instagram account and she picked the picture where the three of them were sitting in front of the mirror and you can see the back of all their heads. Louis told him to caption it “We don't want none unless you got buns, hun.”

Harry didn’t think the caption was appropriate especially with a kid in the picture, and considering Louis’ hair wasn’t in a bun. Louis told him he was looking at the wrong locating then patted his own bum with a wink.

Harry blushed and spluttered and just left the caption blank and tagged Louis and Harper’s mom in the picture.

When Romeo came back to take Harper into one of the booth, Louis and Harry turned to look for their respective partners and found them nowhere.

“Well, what do you say to sticking together for the rest of the night, Harold?” Louis asked.

Harry pretended to sigh, “I guess if I have no choice.”

Louis punched his arm lightly and Harry giggled, walking beside Louis and continuing to the last organizations they have to visit.

**« L »**

Once the night was nearing to a close, Louis, Harry, Liam, Zayn, Niall, and Ed have all been together and just goofing off. They all agreed to go to a club for a little, to loosen up from the tiring day they all had.

Louis hasn’t been out partying like this in a while. He’s finally on a break now that it’s not football season anymore, and he’s definitely not regretting his decision to stay out.

All of the lads were drunk out of their minds, Louis and Harry leading their pack and being the life of the party.

Somehow, they ended up in the middle of the dance floor. Harry was in front of Louis as they grinded together, feeling each other’s hard member on each other’s thighs.

Louis threw his head back and enjoyed the feeling of Harry kissing up the column of his neck, he just finished kissing Louis’ jaw and about to kiss the corner of his mouth when Louis felt Harry being pulled away from him.

He heard Harry whine and looked at who pulled him away, ready to fight for the attention of the taller lad.

What Louis saw made his throat drop down to his stomach. Zayn had his arm around Harry’s waist and Harry was nuzzling his head in the crook of Zayn’s neck as Zayn whispered in Harry’s ear.

Figuring that Harry just used Louis to make Zayn jealous, he started walking towards the bar area to get a drink to try and forget about the curly headed boy.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Louis was hoping that Harry would come and look for him and ask him why he walked away.

Louis saw Niall sulking in a corner and glaring in the general direction of Zayn and Harry, looks like they both got played as they watched Harry pull Zayn urgently into the bathrooms.

“I’m going home,” Louis announced to the booth where Liam and Ed were talking.

Liam gave him a look, as if trying to see why the sudden change in his mood when he was having so much fun the whole day.

“Are you coming or not, Li?” Louis asked, almost angrily.

Liam got out of the booth and they both bid Ed and Niall farewell, Liam wanting to say goodbye to Harry and Zayn but Louis ignored him completely and just walked ahead.

Liam caught up and pulled Louis into his arms as they walked to the parking lot, kissing the crown of his head and shielding him from the paparazzi that were swarming the entrance and exit of the club.

When the two boys got to their flat, Louis pulled Liam to his bed and asked for a cuddle. He’s fine, he told himself. He’s perfectly fine and he doesn’t need to think back about all of the times he spent with Gemma during high school talking about Harry and how much he wanted to kiss his pretty little face off.

He’s fine, he’s fine, he’s perfectly fucking fine.

The last thing Louis heard before he fell into a deep slumber is Liam whispering to him, “You’ll be okay, Lou.”


	3. Ain't Enough To Mean It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little filler chapter explaining Louis and Harry's past.

**« H »**

Harry shot up and ran to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach just in time. He leaned his head on the toilet seat, which, that’s probably really unsanitary but Harry didn’t have the energy or stamina to move any part of his body.

He heard footsteps and suddenly a warm body that smelled like the cigarettes and the club from the night before enveloped all of his senses. He was pulled in between two legs and sat on the person’s lap, hands pushing away the sweaty brown curls matted all over his face.

“What happened last night?” Harry croaked as he laid his head on Zayn’s shoulder and feeling a pain in his bum.

“Well, nothing much until the point when I was on my way for a fag behind the club to wait for you until you were ready to go home, but the bouncer wouldn’t let me out, saying it was unsafe until your security got there because there was a mob in almost every exit of the club. Figured I had to get you out of there before more fans showed up,” Zayn replied quietly, thoughtful of the hangover that Harry is probably sporting.

Harry tried to remember the beginning of the night but it was all a blur. All he remembers is drinking shot after shot then somehow he ended up dancing with Louis and feeling the smaller boy in his arms and kissing his up neck and his jaw and- _shit_ , Harry almost kissed him.

Harry pulled himself away from Zayn and covered his mouth. Zayn looked at him worriedly and pulled the garbage can next to Harry, thinking he was about to vomit again.

Harry shook his head, chanting a _no, oh my god, please tell me I didn't, no_ and _I ruined everything and we just saw each other again for the first time after years_.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Zayn asked.

Harry was trembling slightly with his realization of his actions from the night before. “Zayn, I- I almost kissed Louis last night before you pulled me away.”

Zayn’s face fell. “Haz, oh my god. I’m a complete cock block. I’m so sorry.”

Harry stayed silent and kept on shaking, he was bordering on crying and Zayn was growing increasingly worried.

“Why is this such a bad thing, H?” Zayn asked softly.

Harry took a deep breath and tried to pull his thoughts together, thinking of all the times he’s wanted to kiss Louis when he was at his childhood home and Louis would ruffle his hair or tease him endlessly with Gemma.

“Zayn, I’ve been wanting to kiss his sculptured pretty face off for the past decade and I almost kissed him last night while we were _drunk_. It’s like I was taking advantage of him when we were both out of our inhibitions," Harry huffed, "Besides the fact that you know how I feel with drunken hookups, what if that’s all what he thought it would or wanted to be?”

“Aw, Haz," Zayn pulled Harry in his arms again and enveloped him in a hug, "I may have been paying more attention to Niall than on you two last night, but from what I saw that's not what it was to him. There was a spark there and I'm sure you're not the only one who felt it."

Harry hummed and didn't reply. Zayn continued, "It’s going to be okay, stop worrying about it and take a shower, alright? I’m sure you can talk to him and clear everything out. I'm gonna see if there's anything going on with the press and your name from last night.”

Harry decided to take Zayn’s advice, realizing worrying won’t do too much on the situation if he wallows and takes no action. He can wash away the smell and dried sweat from the previous night away, but he can’t wash away the dread that he’s feeling until he fixes it.

By the time Harry was done and out of the shower, Zayn was nowhere to be found.

When Harry walked to his kitchen, there was a fry up, a big bowl of fruits, and a banana shake on the breakfast table, seated next to it was his iPad that was open on an email. Harry settled down and decided to have the shake first, figuring the love he has for his favorite fruit should give him some of the courage he needs.

As Harry’s personal assistant slash manager slash best friend, Zayn always keeps Harry up to date with what everything the press and his fans are saying about him. Harry gets a morning and nightly summary and analysis over what the fans and the public says about him to calculate his next move.

On the email that was open, Zayn left a message: _Didn’t think you’d want this headline published. I sent a story out about you and the rest of the lads last night instead, that's what all of their teams did as well._

The unposted article attached was from the one and only media outlet that ever talks negatively about Harry. There’s a video that showed Harry falling on flat on his bum as the paparazzi and fans swarmed to his face when he walked out of the club. The content of the article was the usual comments about how Harry was throwing his talents away by getting drunk and partying every weekend, mentioning a source talking about him getting cozy to a “short brunette male."

Harry watched the video and winced, his hand subconsciously trailing to the bruise on his bum and massaging it softly as if that would make it hurt less.

Harry scrolled to the next email, the headline of the article making him choke on the grape he just threw in his mouth. There was another message from Zayn: _We need to talk about this, soon. The deal was if you meet Louis again, you’d finally tell me the whole story. I’ll be back tomorrow if you need more time._

Harry quickly read the article, the headline is in bold letters and questioning Louis and Harry’s past as mates from school and why no one has heard about this before. Harry celebrating the success of the gala with all of the lads were mentioned first, but it eventually progressed into screencapped tweets from Louis and Harry’s old classmates talking about how it was nice seeing them mingling in the same crowd.

There was one significant tweet that made Harry blush, it was from a cheerleader in the football team who was good friends with Gemma and Louis. Her name was Leigh-Anne and he remembers the group of girls that she was always with, three girls called Jade, Jesy, and Perrie.

Harry read the tweet over and over, feeling his face heat up more every time: “Lovely seeing @Louis_Tomlinson and @Harry_Styles together again! Harry came to every game and cheered for Louis louder than anyone ever did. ;)”

Harry clicked on her account that was linked and followed her, looking through her tweets and following the other three girls from her usual group that she still seems to constantly communicate with.

His hand hovered over Louis' account, biting his lip and debating whether he should click on his account or not for a full minute. He eventually did.

Louis hasn’t tweeted for a couple of days, his last tweet was a picture of his two sets of twin siblings dressed to the nines and sitting around a tea table and they’re all smiling. Harry’s heart swooned because Louis always shows how much he loves his family.

He's just an all around family man and Harry wants to have his babies.

_Jesus, Harry, apologize to him first._

It’s been a while since Harry has looked on Louis’ account, the last time he did was during the win of the World Cup. Harry remembers spending ten minutes debating whether he should favorite Louis’ thank you tweet or not.

Eventually, Harry was left staring at the “+ Follow” button.

Before he did anything, Harry sent off a text to Zayn asking if he should do it. Zayn told him to man the fuck up and just follow Louis.

After a few minutes of Harry not replying, Zayn texted him again, telling him to look at his recent following list. Knowing what’s going to be greeting him there, Harry still felt his breathing stop when he saw that Zayn followed Louis’ account for him.

A new text popped up on the top of his screen, telling him to send Louis a tweet by the end of the day or Zayn will.

Harry knew it wasn’t an empty threat and that Zayn only wants the best for him, so he settled for what he hopes is a cheeky enough tweet that won't send Louis running for the hills, then put his phone down.

He walked to his balcony with his yoga mat, thinking some exercise would do him some good and calm his nerves instead of having him anxiously waiting by his phone for a reply.

 

**« L »**

Louis groaned when he felt his phone vibrate again. It's been going off for the past two hours and he's been in and out of sleep because of it. He figured he eventually has to get up and see what the hell is going on, he hasn't gotten that much messages since the World Cup.

He rolled over to grab his phone from his bedside drawer, but his hand hit a lump instead.

Louis heard an 'oof' and his eyes snapped open, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that it was only Liam and not some random bloke.

Louis heard his phone vibrate two more times before finally grabbing it, falling like a dead weight on Liam like a sunbathing starfish.

Liam just put his arm around Louis' waist and continued snoring, he's lucky he's a deep sleeper.

Rolling his eyes, Louis looked at the notifications that was pouring in on his phone. There were some from Niall, his mom, his publicist, Twitter, and Gemma.

Opening the text from Jay first, Louis felt a big smile tug up on his face when he saw it was Ernest and Doris with a made up sign saying they were proud of him for his work at the gala. Then Jay texted him telling him to be safe with wherever he was going that night, Louis feeling warmth bubble up inside him because he loves it when his mum shows endless affection.

Louis moved on to Niall's texts, seeing fifteen messages, one missed call, and one voicemail. And, did someone get hit by lightning overnight or something?

All of the messages were indecipherable drunk messages. Louis tapped to the voicemail and was immediately greeted with a yelling and slurring Irish tone that did not help his booming hangover. Listening to the message far away from his ear, all Louis gathered was Niall talking about Zayn's cheekbones and jawline and Zayn giving him his number and a kiss and that it was all just a misunderstanding.

Louis has no idea what the hell the misunderstanding was, but he's happy that Niall got a kiss from Zayn. He was almost falling all over himself trying to impress Zayn the night before.

There was one text and one email from his publicist, Carrie. She told him that there's a meeting tomorrow and the email contained links to several articles. It was mostly about the gala and the reception of how much money and support was raised.

One article from _The Independent_ focused on Louis' past and present support for LGBTQ+ and all types of charities for children.

The articles that didn't talk about the gala talked about the night out Louis had with all of the other lads, some delving in farther into him and Harry's previous acquaintance from school.

Louis knew it would eventually happen, it was all public information that him and Harry went to the same school, it was just a matter of people putting the information together. As it is, though, four years into both their careers no one has commented about it until now considering their fan bases are two different worlds.

Louis read through the article, seeing screencapped tweets from his previous mates that was on the cheerleading team and various classmates. When he read one from Leigh-Anne, he smiled and reminisced. Feeling a stirring of nostalgia in the pit of his stomach.

After Louis read the articles, he finally opened Gemma's text. Figuring there's no way around it. He still keeps in touch with her as much as he could, but life has gotten too busy for them lately that he realized he hasn't talked to her in almost three months.

Gemma's text read "So I come back from Spain after an internship and you finally decide to get your heads out your asses. Happy days then, innit?"

Louis snorted at her dramatics and sent off a quick reply before he checked his Twitter account.

Since the last time he logged in on his account, he seemingly gained 500,000 new followers.

His phone beeped with another text from Niall, this one saying "Soo.. ya didn't tell me you and lover boy have known each other all along?" and Harry's tweet was attached as a screenshot.

Huh, Louis figured, that's probably where the plethora of new followers came from. He checked his notifications and saw that he also had mentions from several different celebrities congratulating him on his work and Ed talking about seeing him again soon.

Louis told Niall to come over later and that he'll explain everything then. He decided to go back to sleep until Liam woke him up. His mind is too groggy to remember the night before and he figured Liam would explain everything that happened later.

* * *

It was around one in the afternoon when Liam finally woke Louis up. He had brunch ready on the table; greasy enough to cure a hangover but not too greasy that it messes up their strict football diet.

Liam cleared his throat and Louis looked at him, raising his eyebrows.

"So..." Liam started, waiting for a reply.

"So.. what, Liam?" Louis countered.

"Lou, are you going to talk about what happened last night?" Liam sighed.

"Um... Hm, yeah, about that," Louis cleared his throat, "I don't remember anything?"

Liam furrowed his eyebrows and studied a sheepish Louis right in front of him, he's biting on his bottom lip and looks like a child caught doing something they shouldn't be doing.

"Fuck, Louis! Did you black out last night? How much did you drink?"

"Ugh, Leeeeyum," Louis whined, "You know what tequila and vodka does to me. Niall gave me shot after shot last night."

"Okay... Okay. What exactly do you remember?" Liam asked.

"Just everything up to the point where Niall and Zayn were canoodling and making eyes in the booth to the point of sickening." Louis explained, making a face.

"So you don't remember what you were moping about before we left?"

"Moping? Why was I moping?"

"I don't know, Lou, you tell me!" Liam exclaimed frustratedly.

"I don't know, stop yelling at me! We'll ask Niall what happened when he gets here."

"When is he-?"

The doorbell rang before Liam could finish his sentence.

Louis got up and opened the door, giving the energetic boy a hug and clinging to his back until he walked both of them to the living room, telling him how Liam was being an annoying pain in the ass at the moment.

As soon as they were all sat, Liam started firing off questions to Niall.

Louis still had a slight hangover so he sat back and let Niall explain.

The blonde said that he was flirting with Zayn all night long, much like Louis and Harry were with each other. Niall said that Zayn went to smoke outside but the next thing he saw, Zayn had Harry's head in the nape of his neck and he was whispering to his ears. Niall explained he thought the worst, thinking that Zayn was just using him to make Harry jealous which was why he was watching both Louis and Harry all night long.

When Zayn and Harry were about to leave soon after Louis and Liam left, Zayn passed Harry to Ed who clung to the red head the same way he did with Zayn. Niall was skeptic when Zayn pulled him aside to a quiet corner, Zayn explaining the mob outside the club and Harry not being in the best state after vomiting in the bathroom. They exchanged numbers and kisses, and when they came back to Harry and Ed, Harry was pouting about Louis not saying goodbye to him.

After Niall retold the night, the texts and voicemails finally made sense to Louis. Flashes of the night before replaying in his mind. Louis slowly remembered dancing and grinding with Harry on the dance floor and how Harry was kissing up the column of his neck.

Louis blushed when he remembered what the light kisses felt like, he subtly placed a pillow on his to hide the semi he's sporting just from thinking about what Harry's mouth could have done if they weren't interrupted.

Clearing his throat, Niall and Liam stared at Louis expectantly.

"What?" He asked.

"Why didn't you tell us you already knew Harry, you twat." Niall said.

"Wait..," Louis said with his eyebrows furrowing into a confused frown, "You guys didn't... Gemma is Harry's sister."

Liam gasped, "Gemma? As in our drinking and laser tag friend Gemma?"

"I... Yes," Louis answered dumbfounded.

Louis pulled out his phone, going on Facebook to pull up Gemma's profile, showing her cover photo which was a family picture from Anne and Robin's wedding.

"They look so alike and we would occasionally talk about an "H" or "Haz"... Seriously? You guys didn't know?" Louis asked with a laugh in his voice.

"How were we supposed to put two and two together? Her last name isn't even Styles," Liam complained petulantly.

Louis rolled his eyes. "Marriage has a tendency to change someone's surname, Liam." He pulled Liam to him and ruffled his hair, "Sorry man, really thought that you guys knew. That's why I thought that one time we were watching the Brit Awards with Gemma, you were all ganging up and taking the piss on me for having my eyes stuck on Harry."

"Well, are you planning to reply to his tweet?" Niall asked.

Louis bit his lip, " I guess I'm going to have to, don't I?"

He pulled the tweet up and reread it, trying not to smile at the fact that Harry was the one that approached him first.

"What should I say?" Louis looked at the two helplessly as he clicked the follow button.

"You know him better than we do, and you two seemed awfully familiar with each other yesterday. Not to mention, like you've been friends all along and never stopped talking."

Louis hummed, typing out a tweet and sending it out without trying to overthink his reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi or ask any questions [here](http://endouftheday.tumblr.com)!


End file.
